


Waterlogged

by prettyboydotexe



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe- Demigods, Canon-Typical Violence, Demigod AU, Demigods, F/F, F/M, Gen, Levi/Eren Yeager-centric, M/M, Minor Marco Bott/Jean Kirstein, Minor Mikasa Ackerman/Annie Leonhart, Minor Reiner Braun/Bertolt Hoover, Minor Sasha Blouse/Connie Springer, Monsters, Multi, Slow Build, in the future at least
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-14
Updated: 2015-12-11
Packaged: 2018-04-09 08:47:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 19,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4341908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prettyboydotexe/pseuds/prettyboydotexe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The bronze blade hit his shoulder with a long sizzling noise, passing clean through his chest like it was made of warm butter. The sound that came from Mr. Smith was nothing short of animalistic as he toppled to the ground in two pieces, writhing until, suddenly, it was gone in an explosion of grey matter, leaving nothing behind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> All SNK characters belong to Hajime Isayamam. Based on the series by Rick Riordan.  
> Rating may go up. Tags may be added as the story progresses.

By the time Eren was in his sophomore year of high school at the age of fifteen, he’d already attended four different high schools. His current school was Shiganshina Academy, a boarding private school for troubled kids in Sina. 

Was Eren a troubled kid? The answer you got would depend on who you asked.

He could start at any point of his life, really, but things started to truck it downhill when his mother died when he was thirteen. Then, to top it all off, he accidentally vaporized his algebra teacher only two weeks from the end of school. 

The day started off pretty normal, at least, about as normal as any day could start when you attended a school with a student body consisting of nothing but delinquents and troubled teens. There was a field trip planned for the sophomores, a day long jaunt to the Culture Museum to study the Greeks and the Romans. Eren hoped it wouldn’t be too bad, the Latin teacher, Professor Klein, was leading it. 

Professor Klein was a balding middle aged man with a pretty decent sense of humor. He had a grey soul patch cut to a near perfect point and eyes that could kill a man with a single stare. Eren thought he was pretty cool, even if he did teach a boring subject like Latin. The first day Eren had attended his class, Professor Klein had pretended to trip over his own crutches and took a dive into his desk chair. No one in the classroom had reacted, so Eren assumed this was a regular thing, but only after he himself had immediately shot up from his desk to make sure the older professor was alright. 

Eren had hoped the field trip would be alright. At the very least, he hoped he wouldn’t get blamed for another prank that he didn’t actually pull. 

The sky was clear for the first time in weeks when they left school, not a single one of the thunder clouds that had been plaguing Sina in sight. The air was fresh and warm, the perfect day for everything Eren had ever known to be flipped on its head. 

The bus ride was uneventful, as far as bus rides go. Eren sat side by side with Mikasa, the only friend he’d manage to hold onto for longer than a school year, doing his best to ignore the rest of the people on the bus. His mom used to say Eren was like the sea, calm and gentle one minute, then violent and harsh the next. He couldn’t help it, it was like things that should only make him mildly upset gave him full on rage. It constantly felt like he had an entire hurricane trapped inside his chest, just waiting to be let out. 

Mikasa, on the other hand, was constantly calm. Even when she was angry. She never yelled, never even raised her voice over her usual murmur, that is, if she spoke at all. Mikasa wasn’t big on words. Eren thought it had something to do with the fact that both of her parents were gone. She’d never told him that, exactly, but he’d caught on. She lived in a foster home, after all. 

The people on the bus seemed to get louder and louder as the trip went on, some of the bigger, meaner kids even losing interest in the scrawny ones and trying to poke fun at Eren and Mikasa. 

“Oi, Yeager, we’re talking about our favorite sex positions. Wanna know what mine is?” Trent, a large kid with the IQ of a tin can leaned over the back of their seat, poking at Eren’s head. Eren tensed, knowing exactly where he was going. It seemed Mikasa did as well, as she gripped his forearm to steady him. “It’s the WOW position. Wanna know why it’s called that? It’s when I flip your mom over and fuck ‘er that way!” Trent snorted along with his friends, thinking he was hilarious. 

“I’m gonna kill him…” Eren snarled, clenching and unclenching his fists as their banter continued. 

“It’s alright, they’re just stupid kids…” Mikasa tried to calm him down, squeezing his wrist comfortingly. 

“Hey, Ackerman, wanna hear a joke? Women’s rights!”

“ _That’s it_.” Eren started to get up, only to be yanked down by Mikasa’s insistent grip.

“Eren, no! You’re already on strike three. You know what’ll happen if you confront them,” she pushed Eren back into the seat, her face impassive as always. 

“Fine…” 

When he looked back on it later, Eren wished he had ignored her and clocked Trent. 

 

The museum really wasn’t anything special. Professor Klein hobbled along at the front of the group, pointing out various events in Greek history and mythology, occasionally asking and answering questions for the more studious students in the group. Eren tried to listen, he really did, but something kept distracting him. The constant frenzy in his chest turned into a foreboding whirlpool, and he couldn’t shake the feeling that something very bad was going to happen. The back of his neck prickled like someone was watching him. 

Glancing over his shoulder as discreetly as he could, Eren noticed the substitute English teacher, Mr. Smith, staring at him unblinkingly. A shudder went down his spine at the icy glare, so he turned back around in attempt to pay attention to Professor Klein. He did try his best, but the guys from the bus wouldn’t be quite. Twice Eren tried to move, twice they seemed to follow him. Every time they moved, Mr. Smith moved, his eyes never leaving Eren. 

“I don’t think Mr. Smith is human…” Eren muttered jokingly to Mikasa once they moved on to the next exhibit. She looked thoughtful for a moment, before nodding seriously.

“You are absolutely right.” 

Mr. Smith had come to Shiganshina academy half way through the final semester, when the real English II teacher finally had her baby. Smith gave Eren the worst feeling. The man was built like a tank, with thick, mottled skin. His eyes were small and dark green, reminding Eren of some kind of reptile. When he thought about it, he really hadn’t ever seen Mr. Smith blink. 

One of the meat-heads behind Eren snickered at the statue of a naked woman Professor Klein was discussing, and before he thought about it, Eren whipped around and got in his face. 

“Would you _shut the fuck up_ for two minutes?” He growled, before a nudge to the ribs from Mikasa told him that he’d spoken much too loud. 

“Mr. Yeager, is there a problem?” Professor Klein asked, peering over at him. The whole group had gone deathly quiet. 

“No, sir,” Eren shook his head, pulling away from the smirking group of assholes to stand next to Mikasa.

Professor Klein moved to point at the mural next to the statue before looking back at Eren expectantly. “Mr. Yeager, would you be able to tell us what myth this picture represents?”

 

Eren looked at the mural, surprised that he was actually able to recognize some of the characters in it. 

“That’s… Kronos eating his children? Right?” Professor Klein continued to look at him expectantly, prompting Eren to continue. “Kronos was… he was in charge of the Titans, right? And… he didn’t want to give up his throne to his children, so he ate them. But his wife, she kept Zeus away from him and fed him a rock instead.”

“And what did Zeus do?” 

“When he grew up, he tricked Kronos into puking up his siblings,” a chorus of snickers from the group behind him, Eren clenched his fist. “And then chopped him up with his own weapon and threw him into hell, right?”

“Tartarus, actually, Mr. Yeager, but yes. You’re absolutely right. Mr. Smith, would you escort the class outside for lunch?” 

 

The class gathered outside for lunch at the base of the museum entrance stairs. The meatheads in one group to the left, a group of girls on the right, and Eren with Mikasa sitting on the edge of the fountain. He hoped that, maybe, if he sat far enough away, passersby wouldn’t immediately associate them with that school. 

“How’d you know that stuff about Kronos?” Mikasa asked, opening her plain, brown paper lunch bag and pulling out a slightly bruised apple.

“I dunno… I guess I picked it up in class at some point,” Eren shrugged. It wouldn’t surprise him, Professor Klein’s class was the only class he wasn’t barely scraping by in. 

Mikasa nodded, and the two lapsed into a comfortable silence, each eating their respective lunches. It was peaceful for a time, until one of the asshole’s decided they weren’t done harassing them for the day. 

One of said lugs waltzed over and promptly snatched Mikasa’s lunch bag out of her lap. 

“Whatcha got for me today, Ackerman?” He asked, rummaging through the bag. 

“Give it back,” Mikasa frowned, staring at him. Sometimes Eren wondered how her eyes didn’t bore into people’s skulls. 

“Hey, Trent! Look what we got!” the guy held up Mikasa’s Snicker bar triumphantly, causing Trent to gallop over. Eren swore the ground moved every time the lug took a step. 

“Give it back.”

“Oh, he’s getting mad, Trent, whatever shall we do?” Trent and his lackey smirked stupidly at each other, before dumping Mikasa’s lunch into the fountain. “Oops.”

Eren didn’t remember moving. He blinked, anger painting his vision red. They always did this! Why did they have to pick on Mikasa, she never did anything to them! All he heard was two large splashes, and suddenly Trent and his lackey were on their asses in the middle of the fountain. 

“Mr. Smith! Eren shoved me!” Trent whined, and Mr. Smith seemed to materialize behind Eren. 

“I did not!” Eren argued. “I didn’t even get up!” Of course his arguments, like anything having to do with Mr. Smith, were in vain. Nothing he could say could convince him that he wasn’t in fact the spawn of the devil.

“Yeager, inside. Now.”

“It was me!” Mikasa cut in suddenly, startling everyone. “I pushed him.” Eren stared at his friend in disbelief, would she really take the blame for him. Mr. Smith smirked devilishly. 

“Not this time, Ackerman. Move it, Yeager.”

“Thanks anyway, ‘Kasa,” Eren sighed, and Mikasa frowned, making a b-line to Professor Klein as soon as Eren and Mr. Smith were headed inside. 

“Did you see that?”

“The water just reached out and grabbed him!”

“You must be seeing things.”

 

Mr. Smith lead Eren into one of the empty exhibit rooms, and the whirlpool in his chest turned into a tsunami. He took slow, even breaths. Mr. Smith must’ve just wanted to yell at Eren in private, where the public wouldn’t see. Yeah, that was it. He wasn’t in any way luring him into an empty room to do anything other than that. Right?

“Yeager,” Eren was yanked out of his thoughts. When had Mr. Smith crossed the room? 

His brain did that sometimes. He zoned out for what felt like a few seconds, only to find out he’d been staring into space for the last half hour. 

“Uh, yeah, Mr. Smith, listen. I swear I didn’t push him. I don’t know what-”

“You’ve been causing quite a stir, Yeager,” Mr. Smith interrupted. His voice always sounded raspy, like he’d been spending too much time in the reptile room at the zoo. 

“Yes, sir.”

“Did you really think you could get away with it?”

“I’ll try harder next time.”

“You do not fool me, Eren Yeager,” Mr. Smith’s face seemed to melt, his eyes taking on a crazed quality. Eren took a step back. Mr. Smith was a teacher! He wasn’t going to hurt him. 

“Sir? I don’t-”

“Ssssilence!” 

Eren froze, that voice was not human. He turned and bolted, just as Mr. Smith burst into a shower of gold glitter. A massive form took his place, a massive form that slithered across the floor like an over grown python. 

“Eren!” Mikasa and Professor Klein stood in the door way, Klein without his crutches and Mikasa clutching a ballpoint pen like her life depended on it. She threw the pen as Mr. Smith lunged again. 

Eren snatched the pen out of the air, but once it was in his grasp, it was no longer a pen. In his hand was a gleaming, bronze sword. He tucked and rolled just as Mr. Smith lashed out with jagged claws, scrambling to get up before he was a target again. 

Smith spun around with a murderous look in his eyes. 

“Die, godling!” He hissed, lunging for Eren again. He panicked, hands shaking so much he almost dropped the sword, and did the only thing he could do. He swung the sword just as Mr. Smith reached him. 

The bronze blade hit his shoulder with a long sizzling noise, passing clean through his chest like it was made of warm butter. The sound that came from Mr. Smith was nothing short of animalistic as he toppled to the ground in two pieces, writhing until, suddenly, it was gone in an explosion of grey matter, leaving nothing behind. 

Eren spun around to ask if Mikasa and Klein had seen that, but they were gone. He was alone in the room, his left hand clutched desperately around Professor Klein’s pen. 

When he had finally calmed down enough to walk outside, Eren found Mikasa sitting on the fountain where he’d left her. Trent and his gang leered at him as he passed them.

“I hope Mr. Malcom tore you a new one.”

“Who?” Eren’s face scrunched in confusion. Who was Mr. Malcom?

“Our teacher, duh. Stupid.”

Eren frowned, making his way over to Mikasa. 

“Mikasa, where’s Mr. Smith?” She looked at him funny, asking him who the hell he was talking about. Eren frowned deeper. “Serious, ‘Kasa, this isn’t funny.”

He spotted Professor Klein sitting on the beach near the entrance of the museum, as if he hadn’t left that spot since the class came out. He approached the Professor, who looked up at him as if nothing had happened.

“There’s my pen. I was looking for that, thank you, Mr. Yeager,” Eren handed him the pen, he hadn’t even realized he hadn’t let go of it. 

“Professor Klein, where’s Mr. Smith?”

“Who?” He stared at him blankly, as if he’d never heard the name before. 

“The chaperone, the substitute teacher for English II.”

“Eren,” Professor Klein sat forward, eyebrows furrowed in concern. “There isn’t a Mr. Smith on this trip. As long as I’ve been here, there’s never been one in this school. Are you feeling alright?”


	2. Chapter 2

Eren was pretty used to the occasional odd experience. When his mother was still alive, they’d go to the beach every summer the week before school started. For some reason, every time, something strange would happen. Once, when he was nine, he’d floated pretty far away from where his mother had been sitting, and hadn’t noticed. He’d gotten pretty far out, too. When he finally noticed, he was terrified, as any nine year old would be. 

Something brushed against his foot, and his thoughts immediately went to all the shark horror stories he saw on the news, but for some reason, he wasn’t scared. Something brushed him again, this time near his waist, before a fin rose out through the water. He was compelled to reach out and touch the fin, astonished on how smooth it felt. The shark suddenly started swimming towards the beach, taking Eren with it. 

Once he could touch the ground again, he let go and the shark bumped its snout against his hip before darting off. One of the lifeguards must have seen it, because immediately whistles were blown and people were rushing out of the water. His mother had found him a few moments later, frantic and yelling at him, but hugging him until he’d thought his ribs would crack. She was the only one who had ever believed him when he’d said the shark had saved him. 

So, yes, Eren was very used to strange things happening to him. But this… this was new. This twenty-four/seven hallucination was beginning to get to him. For the last few weeks of school, everyone seemed to collectively be on an inside joke. Even the teachers were thoroughly convinced that Mr. Malcom, a mousey, timid man with a serious caffeine addiction, had been there ever since Ms. Laufey had her baby. 

Eren would occasionally drop a Mr. Smith reference, just in case he was able to trip someone up and reveal it was all a ruse, but to no avail. He almost began to believe them, maybe he really had been hallucinating the entire semester. He was almost convinced he was crazy. 

Almost. 

Mikasa was acting stranger than normal. Every time Eren mentioned Mr. Smith, she would get a hard look in her eyes before firmly insisting there was no Mr. Smith in Shiganshina Academy. He could tell something was up. 

Something had happened at the museum. Eren wasn’t crazy, but something was very wrong. 

He didn’t think of it much during the day, but at night, visions of eight foot tall green men with tails the size of tree trunks haunted his dreams. They slashed at his eyes, or snap at his throat. Every time he woke up in a cold sweat and a scream stuck in his throat. He eventually stopped sleeping for more than a few hours a night. 

Eren became snappish and irritable most of the time. His grades fell from barely passing to failing astronomically. He got into more fights, even broke Trent’s arm in three places just for pulling on Mikasa’s scarf. 

It all came to a head one day, two weeks until the last day of school, when the math teacher, Ms. Cowan, asked him yet again why he hadn’t done his homework, and why he felt compelled to sleep in his class. He snapped at her, telling her to kindly go fuck herself. Eren didn’t have a clue why he thought she deserved to be on the receiving end of his rage, but it’d felt good. 

Headmaster Aaron didn’t share that feeling. He called Grisha the following day and officially booted Eren out of Shiganshina Academy for the foreseeable future. 

Eren didn’t care. That was fine. He’d start a new school next year, just like he had the four years previous. He didn’t need some snotty school for rotten eggs. 

He missed his tiny house in Sina. He missed watching Harry Potter on the couch with Grisha in their too small living room until he passed out and had to be herded into his own room. He missed it, even if he had to go back to public school and eat lunch by himself in the corner because no one wanted to eat with the weird new kid. 

Sure, there were a few things he’d miss at Shiganshina. Namely Mikasa. She was the only friend he’d ever had that lasted his entire stay at a school. He’d miss Latin class with Professor Klein. Professor Klein, who’d gone above and beyond in teaching him despite his disabilities. Yeah. He’d miss them. 

As exam week got closer, Eren only studied for Latin. He didn’t care about the other classes, the teachers never seemed to care about him. He felt like he owned it to Professor Klein to at least pass. It was the least he could do after he’d done so much for him. 

 

The night before the Latin exam, Eren was up until the small hours of the morning, nose buried deep in his copy of Edith Hamilton’s _Mythology_. The words were swimming on the page, letters turning to numbers, then turning upside down. It was giving him a migraine. There was no way he’d be able to remember that Athena was the goddess of wisdom, but not necessarily science, and Hermes was the god of science, but wasn’t necessarily wise. Forget O Est I Mus Tis Ent E. That may as well have been rocket science. 

He paced the room, stressed out to high heaven. His eye twitched, but whether it was from lack of sleep, stress, or a combination of the two, he had no idea. 

He stopped, remembering Professor Klein’s offer from so long ago. 

“If you ever has a problem understanding something, Eren, just ask and I’ll do my best to help you.” Maybe it was time he took him up on that offer. He’d never asked a teacher for help before, maybe Professor Klein could talk him through some of the material. It couldn’t hurt to ask. 

Eren crept from his dorm room and made his way down to the faculty offices. Most of the lights were off and doors locked, but not Professor Klein’s. His door was open only a few centimeters, like someone had gone to close it but hadn’t put enough effort into it. Yellow light spilled through the crack and painted a stripe across the hallway. 

Right before Eren went to knock on the door, he saw movement inside, followed by voices. 

“I’m just… Worried about Eren, Professor,” Eren froze. Was that Mikasa? He normally wasn’t one for eavesdropping, but he’d been mentioned! Surely he had a right to know if they were talking about him. “He’s going to be alone this summer… You know Grisha will be gone with his experiments most days. They’ve already found him… A naga, in the school, right under our noses, and neither of us noticed until it was too late!”

“We’d only make things worse if we moved too quickly,” Professor Klein replied. “He’s already unstable, anything more and they’ll be a moth to a flame.” 

“But Professor, there might not be enough time. He _saw_ him-”

“His imagination,” Professor Klein insisted. “The Mist over the rest of the academy will assure him of that.”

“I can’t take the chance, sir…” Eren had never heard Mikasa sound so sad. She sounded distraught. “I can’t let him get hurt.”

“You won’t, Mikasa. Let him enjoy his ignorance a little while longer,” Professor Klein said kindly. “I should have seen him, I should have _smelled_ him for what he was. Damn nose is going bad with my old age. Let’s just focus on keeping Eren alive until we’re certain-”

Eren’s book slipped out of his hand and slapped against the tile, causing all movement in the office to stop. He could hear his pulse pounding in his ears as he snatched up the book and backed down the hall until he could duck between a break in the lockers. 

The band of light across the hallway and Professor Klein stepped out, but without his crutches. The legs of his shadow looked like they bent backwards and were covered in fur. There were two protrusions coming out of the top of his head. Eren slapped a hand over his mouth to silence his heavy breathing as the Professor peered down the hall in the opposite direction. 

Eren squeezed himself tightly into the gap, hand firmly over his mouth and cheek to the wall. Professor Klein paced down the hall, but his steps sounded like he was wearing high heels. He stopped only a few feet from Eren’s hiding place. 

“Nothing…” Professor Klein clicked back down to his office, where Mikasa stood by the door. “My nerves haven’t been the same since-” Their voices were muffled once the office door clicked shut. 

Eren took off down the hall and back up to the dorms, haphazardly tossing his book back on the desk before diving into his bed. 

Keep Eren _alive_? Was there a danger of him dying that he didn’t know about? Was something trying to get him? And they weren’t even going to _tell him_? He didn’t understand what he’d heard in the offices, but one thing was absolutely certain. Mikasa and Professor Klein had lying to his face, and thought he was in danger. 

 

The next afternoon, after his Latin exam (which Eren used every minute of the allotted three hours to do, and still didn’t finish), Professor Klein called Eren back into the classroom. For a split second, Eren worried he’d been caught eavesdropping the night before, but that didn’t seem to be the case. 

“Eren… Don’t fret over not coming back to Shiganshina. It’s… for the best.” 

His tone was kind, but the words still hurt. He spoke quietly, but Eren knew anyone within the classroom could still hear him. Trent snickered from the back where he was packing up his bag. 

“Yes, sir,” Eren mumbled, wanting to get out of the room as quickly as possible. 

“I mean…” Klein adjusted his position in his wheelie chair, using his crutches to move himself out from behind the desk. He furrowed his brow, like he couldn’t quite figure out how he wanted to continue. “This just isn’t the right place for you, it was only a matter of time.”’ 

Eren clenched his fists. 

Professor Klein was his favorite teacher. The only teacher not to write him off as a lost cause, and now he was telling him that he hadn’t been able to handle it. After helping him all year, making him believe that he’d be able to at least do something right, he was still destined to fail. 

“Right,” Eren growled, eye twitching. 

“No, no, that didn’t come out right,” Professor Klein sighed, rubbing his temples with his fingers. “I’m trying to say… oh damn it all! You’re not normal, Eren. That’s nothing to be-”

“Thanks for fucking reminded me,” Eren snapped, not letting the Professor finish. “Really, thanks a lot, sir.”

“Eren-” It was useless, Eren was already out the door. 

 

The last day of term, Eren shoved his clothes into his suitcase. The other boys in the dorm laughed and joked around, sharing what they were going to do over the summer. One of them was spending the summer in his family’s beach house in Miami, another was vacationing in France. All the students in Shiganshina Academy were delinquents, but a good bit of them were rich delinquents.

“Hey, Eren, you doing anything good over the summer?” Someone asked, once Eren was packed up and waiting in the lobby for the buses to come around. 

“Oh, uh… I’ll probably have to get a job, actually…”

“Oh, that’s… cool,” they went back to their conversation as if Eren had never been there. 

Mikasa came by a few minutes later, setting her stuff next to Eren’s and taking a seat with him on one of the thread bare couches in the lobby. She had to ride the same bus Eren did, so they’d be sticking together for a while yet. 

The buses arrived several minutes later, and the two boarded. Mikasa insisted on taking the aisle seat, and spent a majority of the first fifteen minutes glancing around tensely, examining all the passengers as they boarded. 

Eventually, Eren couldn’t take it anymore.

“See any Naga?” He snapped impatiently, and Mikasa froze. She slowly turned her head to stare at him like a deer in the headlights. 

“What do you know about that?” She hissed, voice quiet like she was telling a secret. 

“What, you mean about how you and Professor Klein have been having secret meetings in the middle of the night? Or do you mean the fact that you think someone’s trying to kill me, but you’re not going to tell me about it?”

“Eren… I was worried about you… Hallucinating about snakemen-”

“Mikasa…”

“So I brought up that maybe you were stressed. There isn’t any Mr. Smith, there never had been.”

“Mikasa, you’re a piss poor actress,” Eren stated, Mikasa sighed heavily. 

“Just… be careful, okay?” She reached into her pants pocket, producing a small business card. It only had two things written on it in plain, black ink, **Camp Sina and Strawberry Fields** and a phone number, followed by a cartoon drawing of a dancing strawberry. “Call if you need anything.”

“Why would I need anything from you?” It came out much harsher than Eren had intended, and Mikasa almost looked hurt. 

“Eren, I need to keep you safe.”

Eren stared at her like she just grew a second head, eyes narrow and untrusting, when the bus suddenly came to a stop. The bus driver stood up and said there was something wrong with the engine then went to go check it out. After a few minutes of clinking and clanging around under the hood, the driver came back to announce that they’d be parked out for a while until the city sent someone to fix it, or a replacement bus. Everyone filed off the bus one by one, so Eren and Mikasa joined the crowd. 

The day was hot, one of the hottest of the year so far, and the road was completely deserted. Aside from a little fruit stand on the opposite side of the road, there wasn’t a building for miles. Just a stretch of cornfields on one side, and forest on the other. 

The fruit stand was piled high with fresh oranges, apples, and other assorted fruits. Though strangely, aside from the three old women who seemed to be running it, it was completely deserted. 

Something about the old ladies caught Eren’s attention. They didn’t look very strange, just like normal old ladies with stark white hair, bad posture, and a fascination with knitting. They seemed to be knitting what looked like the world’s largest pair of socks. The two ladies on the ends each had a pair of knitting needles, both making her own sock, while the one in the middle held an enormous basket of bright green yarn. 

The strangest thing about them, though, was that they were all looking at Eren. 

He looked over to make some joke about it to Mikasa, only to freeze when he saw how distraught she looked. 

“Mikasa, are you okay?”

“Tell me you don’t see them, Eren.”

“The old ladies? Yeah, I see them.”

“Are they looking at you?”

“Yeah, I think so. It’s kinda creepy, honestly-”

“We’re getting back on the bus,” Mikasa grabbed Eren’s arm, pulling him along behind her as she wove through the crowd of passengers. 

“But it’s like a million degrees in there!” 

Mikasa wrenched open the doors and pulled Eren on board just as a maintenance van pulled up next to the bus. Eren looked out the window, but his eyes were drawn back to the fruit stand. One of the old ladies. The left most one tied off her sock, and the middle raised the cord, eyes still glued to Eren. He swore he could hear the snip of the scissors from four lanes away. 

At the back of the bus, one of the maintenance workers made a large clanging sound, and the bus roared back to life. The crowd outside cheered and piled back onto the bus. A few minutes later, Eren started to feel ill. Every time the bus hit a bump, or rocked a little bit, he felt his stomach try to crawl up his throat. Mikasa looked tenser than ever. 

“’Kasa?”

“Yeah?”

“Is there something you’re not telling me?”

Mikasa didn’t respond for a moment before clenching her jaw. She glanced down the aisle once, then at each of the passengers, before turning to Eren with a grim expression on her face. 

“What did you see at the fruit stand?”

“The old ladies? What’s wrong about them? Are they like Mr. Smith?” Mikasa’s face went dark, and the whirlpool in Eren’s chest started up with a passion. 

“Just tell me what you saw.”

“They were making this massive pair of socks. And the middle on cut the yarn for the one that finished.” Mikasa’s eyes widened, and Eren felt like he’d said the exact _wrong_ thing. 

“You saw her snip the cord…” She murmured, making a gesture with her fingers over her heart, like she was crossing herself, but different. 

“Yeah, so? It was just knitting.” 

“Eren, promise me you’ll let me walk you home,” Mikasa demanded, grabbing both of Eren’s hands in hers in a vice like grip. “Promise me.”

Eren gave her a confused look. That was a strange request. She’d never wanted to walk him back before. 

“Why, is something wrong?” She gave him a blank look, her hands never leaving his. “’Kasa?” 

“I won’t fail you, Eren.”


	3. Chapter 3

If Eren was honest, he only felt a little bad about ditching Mikasa at the bus terminal. 

In his defense, she was really starting to freak him out with the whole “ancient monsters are trying to hunt you down and kill/eat you” talk, so he felt like he deserved a little alone time to get his thoughts together. So when Mikasa excused herself to stop in the women’s rest room, after making him promise to stay at the terminal and not to move one inch until she came back, he bolted for the nearest corner. He flagged down the first empty cab he saw, threw his stuff in the back and told the driver to step on it.

Grisha Cullen’s house in Sina was small, but not cramped. Eren loved it, especially when he compared it to the tiny coat closet of an apartment he’d lived in with his mother until she died. 

Carla Yeager had been Grisha’s research assistant, though to this day Eren had no idea what they were researching, only that his mother would brag about how close they were to revolutionizing modern medicine. From the way she spoke about him, Eren could tell that Grisha was a genius. 

Eren first met Grisha when he was eight years old. His mother had invited him over for a celebratory dinner after a massive breakthrough in their research. To his eight year old mind, Grisha looked more like a founding father than a medicinal genius, but over time Eren came to see Grisha as somewhat of a father figure, since his own had left before he was born. When his mother had died, Grisha immediately adopted Eren. He snatched the grieving boy up before foster care could even look at him, and Eren was grateful. 

 

Eren had hoped today would be the day that Grisha had decided to work normal hours for once, and would be there to greet him when he got home. He knew it was unlikely, Grisha was a workaholic at best and a paperwork addict at worst, but still, he hoped. When knocking on the door proved fruitless, he kicked the doormat aside and unlocked the door, pushing his way inside. 

“Hello? Anyone home? Grisha?” No answer. 

Sighing, Eren collected his bags and hauled them up to his bedroom on the second floor. Everything was how he left it. Posters for bands he never listened to taped up on the walls, homework papers he’d never done haphazardly strewn over the carpet, green comforter just barely pushed up over the pillow in a half assed attempt in making it, just to appease Grisha. It was his space. It was home. 

Since it didn’t seem like Grisha would be getting home for a while yet, Eren went ahead and unpacked, or at least, his version of unpacking. His version of unpacking included opening his bags, dumping them in the corner of the room “for later” and diving head first into his bed. He tried not to think about the conversation he’d have to have when Grisha got home. He didn’t think he could stand another “I know you didn’t get expelled on purpose but you need to do better, we’re running out of schools” talk. 

Eren wasn’t sure how long he laid in bed, but at some point he must have fallen asleep, because the next time he opened his eyes it was to see Grisha standing in his doorway with a plastic bag of takeout Chinese. He was surprised that Grisha was home before nightfall. 

“So you _are_ awake, good, I was about to call the coroner,” he chuckled, dangling the bag of food on his index finger. “Are you going to come eat or am I going to have to eat all of this by myself?” Grisha left the door open when he turned around without waiting for Eren’s answer, probably to go set up in the kitchen. “The school called, but I’m sure you already knew about that.”

“Yeah…” Eren nodded, rubbing his eyes as he trudged into the kitchen, now clad in a pair of swearts and some old Vans t-shirt. “I’m sorry, Grisha, I really tried… I liked it there…”

“I know you didn’t mean to get expelled,” Grisha sighed, placing a carton of fried rice in front of him. “I was surprised when they called. You were doing so well.”

“I know! It’s just… I guess the stress finally caught up to me,” Eren ran his hands through his already unruly hair, making it stick up in every direction. He went on to tell Grisha about the museum incident, and about how everyone in school seemed to collectively forget and replace Mr. Smith with Mr. Malcom in the span of an hour. To Eren’s surprise, and relief, Grisha seemed to believe him. 

“I don’t know about disappearing English teachers, or collective amnesia, but I do know about stress so how about this. I have the next week off, how does heading to Trost sound?”

Eren’s eyes immediately went wide, he loved Trost! He used to go there all the time as a small child with his mother. She used to tell him stories about her childhood visits to the beach there. Trost beach was where she met Eren’s father, even. They used to stay at an old rental cabin on the beach, the same one that his mother had gone to during her childhood. 

“Really?” Eren asked, Grisha nodded in affirmation. “Yeah! Let’s go!” 

“Then we’d better eat faster, if we want to get there before it’s too dark to do anything.” 

 

The cabin on Trost beach was quite possibly Eren’s favorite place in the world. He wasn’t sure how to explain it, but something about the sea just made him feel at peace. Like he belonged there. The cabin was small, only two rooms, one of which was a bathroom, and didn’t have any central air, but Eren didn’t care about that. There were only two hundred yards of sand dunes and tall grass between him and the water at any given time, and that more than made up for the fact that there was always sand in the sheets and spiders in the cupboards. 

Eren loved it. 

Even as they did the boring stuff, taking off she sheets and putting on their own, dusting the furniture for cobwebs, washing the dishes, etc., he couldn’t get the smile off of his face. He never could when he was there. The ocean was something even he couldn’t mess up. 

Unfortunately, it was too dark by the time they were done for Eren to get in the water, but they did make a campfire to roast marshmallows and hot dogs. 

“Eren, I thought you were roasting a marshmallow, not charcoal,” Grisha commented, watching as Eren caught his marshmallow on fire for the third time. “I think it’s well and truly burnt.”

“It’s not burnt, it’s delicious,” Eren defended, defiantly biting into his black marshmallow, only to spit it out onto the sand when it burnt his mouth. “Owfuck!” Grisha just tutted at him.

“Language.”

 

Eren and Grisha were forced to go inside when the wind began to pick up, bringing with it a splattering of rain that quickly bled into a full forced storm. The windows shook in their pains, so they were bolted down when the storm door was locked. 

As they got ready for bed, or at least, they laid down, Eren watching TV on the couch and Grisha reading over the paperwork he’d brought with him on the only bed, they somehow brought up Eren’s parents. 

“Your mother…” Grisha sighed, looking somewhat mystified. Eren always secretly thought Grisha had a crush on his mother. He sure acted like it. “She was a wonderful woman. I’ve never met someone so driven to help others than she was. Carla was so kind… It’s no wonder your father fell for her like he did. Gods’ know why she fell for him, though.” A crack of lightning seemed to split open the sky, and an especially large wave crashed into the sand. 

“Was he not a good person?” Eren wondered, his eyebrows furrowed together. He couldn’t picture his mother with anyone who wasn’t. Grisha seemed to contemplate what he was going to say next. 

“Your father… How do I put this…? He was different. He wasn’t from here.”

“Like you?”

“Yes, and no. We’re from the same place, I suppose you could say. He’s a little different than me, though. You’re more like him than I am.” Eren almost got offended, if it weren’t for Grisha quickly backtracking. “No, no, no, not in a bad way, Eren.”

“It’s alright. It’s not like I knew him anyway,” Eren shrugged his excuse off, he knew Grisha didn’t mean anything by it. They fell quite for a few moments, before Grisha spoke up again.

“Have I ever told you what I do for a living, Eren?”

“You’re a researcher, right?” 

“Well, yes, but have I ever told you _what_ I research?”

“No, I don’t think you have.”

“Alright, picture this,” Grisha placed his paperwork down and slid off the bed, taking a seat on the coffee table that sat between the couch and the TV. “A world where there was no war, where illnesses can be healed in moments, seconds, instead of months or years. A world where people like you were in charge.”

“That sounds a little unrealistic…” Eren frowned, how did this have anything to do with research? “I mean, isn’t that a little too good to be true?”

“In theory, yes, it is. Well, for mere mortals maybe. But I, Eren, _we_ , are not mere mortals. What I’m working on, what your mother was working on, could make all of that a reality.”

“You still haven’t said what exactly that is.” Grisha was becoming more animated as he spoke, his eyes widening to an almost comical width. Eren probably would’ve made a joke about it, but in all honesty Grisha was starting to unsettle him. 

“It’s called Siphon, and its purpose is-” Grisha was interrupted by a frantic voice accompanied by pounding on the cabin door. Grisha stopped mid-sentence and was up faster than Eren’s eyes could track, flinging open the door. Mikasa stood outside, shivering and soaked to the bone from the rain pounding into the sand outside. “Mikasa. Get in here, you’ll catch your death.”

“T-thank you, Doctor Cullen,” Mikasa stepped inside, but didn’t move to take off her coat and shoes. As Eren stood frozen in shock, he noticed he’d never seen this Mikasa before. Her eyes were sharp, determined, if not a little terrified. Her long, jet hair was cut short, half her face covered by her scarf, and her entire body clad in worn, leather armor. What got to Eren most was the gleaming sword clenched in her hand. “I’ve been s-searching… all n-night…”

Grisha whipped around to Eren, eyes wide and _mad_. 

“Eren, did something happen at school?”

“What?” How did he..?

“Grisha, Grisha, Eren has to leave.”

“You’re in no shape to go anywhere, Mikasa.”

“Do you two know each other?” Eren asked, completely floored by the fact that literally everyone he knows is in on something he isn’t. 

“No, we don’t. Eren, get Mikasa something to change into-” The man was trying to herd Mikasa further inside, but she continuously waved him off, trying to evade him. 

“No! T-there’s no time!” 

“Mikasa-”

“ _They found him_ ,” That seemed to immediately cause Grisha to switch gears. He went from pushing her in to dragging her. 

“Eren, shove all the clothes you can fit into your backpack. Now,” Grisha commanded, but Eren had had enough. He wanted to know what was going on before he did anything else.

“No! Dammit! Someone tell me what’s going on!” He demanded, putting his foot down hard. Mikasa looked frantic. 

“I promise, I will tell you everything on the way, Eren, but right now you need to _leave_ ,” she promised, crossing over and grabbing his hands. Her eyes were wide and pleading, Eren felt like he had no choice but to go. Grisha was already shoving things into bags haphazardly, throwing Eren’s hoodie at him and telling him to quickly put it on. 

“On the way where?” Eren asked, Mikasa gave him a small smile. 

“Camp.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter kicked my ass. The last, maybe 10 or so, paragraphs were pretty hard to write, since writers block hit me hard this last week. But here it is! I did it! Enjoy!

They tore through the back roads of Trost in the dark. Rain slapped against the windshield, blurring the road in front of them even with the wipers on as high as they could go. Eren had no idea how Grisha knew where he was going, but the man kept the pedal to the floor the entire time. 

Every time lightning would flash overhead, or the ocean would slap a particularly large wave against the beach, Eren would look back at Mikasa. She was still soaked to the bone and dripping all over the leather seats, her scarf was so saturated it hung down twice as far as usual. She looked like she could pass out any moment, but her eyes were still sharp and alert as ever.

“So… You and Grisha… know each other?” He asked, because the awkward silence was beginning to get to him. That, and he was starting to get sick of people knowing things he didn’t. 

“Not exactly,” Mikasa shook her head. “We’ve never met in person.”

“I knew she was watching you with Klein,” Grisha explained, his eyes not leaving the road, or whatever he could make out of it. 

“Watching me?” 

“Keeping tabs on you, making sure nothing found you,” Mikasa chewed her lip, tugging on a loose thread on her scarf. “I wasn’t faking being your friend, though. I am your friend.”

“What exactly are you?” Eren asked, this was getting to be a bit much. 

“I’m the same as you,” Mikasa smiled softly. “But that doesn’t matter right now.”

“Doesn’t matter right now? My best friend just tracked me down three cities over-”

“You’re in danger, Eren, of course I had to follow you.”

“That doesn’t make it any less weird, ‘Kasa,” Eren replied, throwing his hands up in exasperation, hitting the roof of the car with a muffled thump. Except, the thump kept coming. “You have a _sword_!”

“Eren-”

“You’re wearing armor, for crying out loud!”

“ _Eren_.”

“This is the very definition of weird, Mikasa!”

“Eren! Shup _up_ for a second!” Mikasa slapped her hand across his mouth, stunning him into silence, forcing his head back forward. It was then he noticed the way the car was shaking, and not in the way driving on the road typically caused. “Grisha-”

“Not much longer,” Grisha promised, swerving onto a side road sheltered by tall, thick trees. Eren could actually see their surroundings now, and he could instantly tell they were nearing Trost’s backwoods. 

“Where are we going?” He asked, yanking Mikasa’s hand off his mouth and turning around in his seat to face her. A streak of lightning split the sky, back lighting a massive form turning onto the gravel road behind them. His mouth went dry as fear gripped him. 

“Grisha!” Mikasa hissed, and Grisha slammed his foot harder on the gas, the sudden change in momentum throwing Eren into the back stead alongside Mikasa. A loud, snarling noise rose over the pounding of the rain as the rocking increased. It took Eren a split second longer to realize he could hear massive footsteps pounding along the road behind the car. “It can see the headlights! We need to get out!” 

“I can’t stop here, we’ll be sitting ducks!” Grisha bit back, suddenly spinning the wheel and sending the car veering to the right through a break in the trees. Eren began to notice the overgrown path the car was tearing down, knocking into decrepit old signs advertising a strawberry farm. 

“Where are we going? It’s still following us!” Eren could see its shape clearly now. A long, cylindrical body and shining red eyes in the darkness, like a demonic snake. 

“I told you already, we’re going to camp,” Mikasa was checking the straps on her armor, unsheathing the sword at her side and holding it in a vice like grip. “A camp for people like us.”

“What the fuck does that mean?” 

Grisha slammed his foot on the breaks, and Eren would’ve been thrown through the wind shield if not for Mikasa hauling him out the car door by his collar. 

“Run!” She barked, pushing him forward into the trees. Grisha was there next to him, leading them down an over grown path like the one they’d just left the car on, only this one was much narrower. When he glanced behind them, Eren saw Grisha’s car being torn apart piece by piece by Satan’s own pet python. 

The beast seemed to figure out they weren’t there by the time the car’s headlights were fully blocked off by the trees. The only thing Eren could hear over the rain beating through the trees was the massive, throaty howl it let out when it began barreling through the trees trying to find them. 

“There!” Mikasa pointed at a massive gate about a hundred yards in front of them, lit by two massive sconces perched on white, stone columns. “We just need to get through the gate, the drakon can’t follow us there-” She cut herself off with a choked shriek as she pitched forward. A spike the size of Eren’s head protruded out of her shoulder, having cut straight through the layered leather of her armor. 

“Mikasa!” Eren grabbed her by the arms, thankful for the years of swimming that had kept him more or less in shape. 

“Get her through the gate!” Grisha ordered, picking up her dropped sword and stopping completely, facing whatever chased them head on. “Find the house at the edge of camp! You’ll be safe!”

“Are you fucking insane? I’m not going to leave you here by yourself! You’re a scientist, what good are you going to do?” Eren barked, struggling to put Mikasa on his back and glare at his foster father at the same time. “You’re coming with me, help me get her on my back!” 

“It doesn’t want _me_ , it wants you! So go! Besides, I’m not allowed over the property line.” 

“Grisha…”

“ _Go_ Eren.” 

He got mad then, mad at Mikasa for lying to him, mad at Grisha for trying to be a hero. He ran though, with the idea in his head that he’d drop Mikasa just inside the gate before running back and dragging Grisha over bodily as well. 

The drakon screamed again, followed by the sound of Grisha hurling a curse at it in a different language. Eren was floored for a second when he realized he understood what he’d said. 

“Come on, you great ugly son of a bitch, I’m over here!” Eren lowered Mikasa as gently as he could behind the gate, just under one of the flaming sconces, before turning around and taking off towards Grisha. The man was slashing like mad at the beast’s massive head, poking at its eyes and avoiding snapping teeth by the skin of his ass. For some reason Eren could tell Grisha didn’t have the slightest inkling how to wield a sword. “Eren, get out of here!” He barked when he saw Eren standing at the edge of the tree line, but didn’t make any move to chase him off. Granted, if he turned his back he’d be snake food. 

“No! I’m not leaving without you!” Eren yelled, looking around frantically for something to use as a weapon. The beast whipped its tail around at Grisha, pinning him to a tree with so much force it cracked. Grisha made a grunting noise, but otherwise seemed unfazed by the brutal treatment. 

“Eren, get out of here!” 

“Not without you!” 

“Eren—” Out of nowhere, the drakon whipped around, causing Eren to jump and grab a low hanging tree branch to avoid its lashing tail. He clambered up onto the branch, just as the thing’s giant scaly head was sizing Grisha up. The man barely managed to avoid its snapping jaws, ducking down but losing his sword in the process. 

Another series of spikes flew off the creature’s tail, embedding deep into the soil around Grisha as he scrambled to get up, some getting buried several inches into the tree trunks. Eren noticed that all the spines on the beast’s back seemed to come off, and that gave him an idea. 

He eased up higher into the tree as quietly as he could, silently thanking whoever/whatever gods were real for how close it was to the other trees as he jumped onto another branch. He meticulously made his way from tree to tree until he was directly above Grisha and the beast.

Right as Eren was about to drop onto its head, it snapped again at Grisha, only this time he wasn’t quite fast enough. His arm and shoulder were clamped between what looked to be _several_ layers of teeth as he was swung up bodily by his torso. Eren would have nightmares for weeks about the screams of agony and terror he heard as the beast toyed with a meticulously devoured his foster father. 

He didn’t want to watch, but he couldn’t seem to look away. There was a distinct lack of blood and gore, he would notice later, but at the time he was trying not to vomit when the screams abruptly cut short. Eren’s gag reflex kicked in and he doubled over, immediately slapping a hand over his mouth both to muffle the noise and hopefully preventing himself from hurling. It didn’t do much good, however, as the drakon immediately whipped its head around to look for him, causing its tail to smack into the tree, shaking it violently. 

Eren dropped gracelessly onto its back, barely dodging its spines when it began thrashing around, coiling around itself to snap at him. He crawled up the creatures back, reaching out once to use a spike for leverage, only to have in snap off into his hand and nearly sending him to the ground. 

After several failed attempts at climbing up, Eren hit the ground. The landing knocked the air out of him, leaving him wheezing and scrambling backwards as the drakon slithered towards him. Its massive, slimy tongue flicked out at him, scenting him as it followed him, right up until his back was against a tree. 

He pressed himself tightly against the tree, the bark scraping his skin and catching on his shirt. The beast’s nose was level with his, its massive eyes staring straight at him, right before it opened its massive maw to snap him up. Eren belatedly remembered the broken spike in his hand, and in a fit of desperation, plunged it into the roof of its mouth. One of its massive teeth dug into his shoulder, and the drakon thrashed around, knocking his back into the tree several times, but Eren kept pushing. 

Something cracked, Eren wasn’t sure if it was his shoulder or the thing’s skull, and he was thrown off, sliding out farther into the clearing. The drakon howled and trashed about, a strange, yellow-green liquid was oozing out of its mouth, sizzling as it hit the grass. Spikes flew in every direction, causing Eren to roll to the side to avoid being impaled.

He felt something inside of him snap, and he was moving before he could process his actions. He scrambled over to where Grisha had thrown Mikasa’s sword and picked it up, shakily charging at the drakon. Even in its frantic state, it still put up a fight, snapping at him and hissing around the spike embedded in its pallet. Eventually, Eren found an opening, swinging the sword as hard as he could with his one good arm, burying it in the creature’s skull. 

It hissed and howled, but its squirming only drove the sword deeper as Eren threw all of his weight into it, before finally growing limp. Eren fell back onto his ass, panting hard as the adrenalin finally began to pass, revealing the intense pain in his shoulder and the burn in his muscles. He just wanted to lay down and sleep for the next ten years, but he couldn’t. 

Eren hauled himself up, groaning as he made his way to where he’d dropped Mikasa. She hadn’t stirred in the… however long it’d taken him to kill that thing. He picked her up and propped her on his good shoulder, grunting at the effort, and glancing back one more time at the corpse of the drakon. Or at least, where it had been. He had looked just in time to see it melt into ashes, just like Mr. Smith had. 

“Oh, you _so_ owe me an explanation after this…” He growled, half carrying-half dragging Mikasa and himself through the gate and down the path. It was much too dark for him to see beyond the trees, if that, so he didn’t see the house until they were right up on it. Climbing the three steps up onto the porch was probably the hardest thing he’d ever done, besides you know, killing a drakon. 

Once he was up on the porch, his body screamed at him that was as far as he could go. He laid Mikasa down on the porch swing as carefully as he could, collapsing onto one of the nearby chairs immediately afterwards. He didn’t even remembering closing his eyes, but it was easily the deepest he’d slept in years. Fighting for your life will do that, he supposed.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm soooo sorry this took so long!! I got caught up with school, and my final project, but hey! Here's a chapter!! I'll try to get the next one out as soon as I can!!

Eren dreamt of super-sized, blood thirsty Iguanas. At least a dozen of them, all roughly the size of a football field. They all wanted to eat him.

He woke up several times during the ‘night’, but the things he heard and saw didn’t make any sense, so he just passed back out. At one point, he saw what appeared to be a boy with half a golden coconut on his head, spoon feeding him pudding that tasted like Oreos. When the boy noticed he’d opened his eyes, he smiled and asked how he felt. Eren was asleep again before he could process the question.

The next time he woke up, the blond coconut was gone. Instead, there was a burly blond, body-builder looking dude with a short beard-mustache combo going on was leaning against the wall by the doorway. He would periodically sniff the air, like a blood hound, and nod to himself before returning to his watch over Eren. He didn’t try to speak to Eren, so he just went back to sleep.

When Eren woke up for good, it was to, at first glance, an empty room. Granted, it was nicer, if not emptier, than he was used to. The room had a backwoodsy feel to it. Pale, sun-flower printed curtains, wooden furniture with floral printed cushions and drapes. The air, though slightly stale, smelt like strawberries, and warm sunlight filtered through the window blinds, striping his lower body with bars of light. There was a small glass of amber liquid on the bedside table, and Eren almost dropped it trying to take a sip, would’ve spilled it on himself had a pair of hands not come out of nowhere to steady him. 

“Careful,” a gentle, familiar voice warned him.

Mikasa raised up from where she had been perched on the edge of an uncomfortable looking wooden chair by the bed, taking the glass from Eren so he could take small sips without dribbling all over himself, it tasted like Hershey's chocolate, but he hardly noticed. She wore a garish orange shirt with ‘CSSF’ in blocky letters on it, and a pair of blue jeans that looked like they had seen better days.

Eren took a deep breath once the glass was taken away. Maybe everything had been a dream. Maybe they’d flipped the car and he’d been knocked out. Grisha would be in the hallway, worried sick about him and-

“You saved my life,” Mikasa broke his line of thought. “I went back to the hill, to look for… Anyway. I found this,” she presented him with a large, jagged spine. The very same spike Eren had plunged into the beast’s skull. Eren swallowed past the lump in his throat.

“So the drakon-“

“Eren...”

“Grisha’s dead, isn’t he?” Eren stared down at his hands in his lap, blinking wildly against tears that threatened to fall. There was a shuffling noise, and Mikasa perched herself on the edge of the bed, wrapping one arm around Eren’s shoulders so he could lean into her chest.

“I’m sorry…” Mikasa held him there while sobs wracked his body. He’d lost everything. Again. _Again_. He was allowed to cry.

They sat like that for the better part of an hour, just Mikasa rubbing gentle circles into Eren’s back with the heel of her palm. Neither said anything. Nothing could be said to make Eren feel better. He just needed to get it out. Once his breath had smoothed out and he wasn’t hiccupping anymore, Mikasa spoke up. 

“How much do you remember?”

“The car… the Drakon,” Mikasa winced at the name, but Eren pushed on. “You going down. I think I tried to sword fight? I don’t know… and I stabbed it with that,” he pointed tiredly at the spine sitting at his feet. “In… in the mouth.”

“That explains the broken shoulder,” Mikasa nodded to herself, and Eren furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. 

“Broken shoulder? How long have I been out?” 

“A few days, three or four.”

“What? I thought I broke my shoulder, though.”

“You did.”

“Then how..” Eren glared up at her, clenching his fist. “This isn’t funny, Mikasa. That’s not possible.”

“Can you stand?” Mikasa asked, after a pause, and Eren’s glare intensified. “Stop glaring at me. Come on.” 

She helped Eren haul himself out of bed, settling unstably on his feet. He didn’t know who had changed his clothes, but he wasn’t wearing what he had been in the car. Instead, he now wore the same offensively orange t-shirt as Mikasa, and a pair of cut off jean shorts. His shoes were gone, probably ruined by the rain and mud. 

“I’m sorry…” Mikasa murmured as they stumbled into the hallway, her arm around Eren’s waist so they could make it down the creaky, wooden steps. “I failed you. It’s my fault Grisha’s-”

“Did you call the drakon?”

“No-”

“Then it’s not your fault. Where are we going?”

“There’s a few people who want to meet you.”

***

The porch was massive from the looks of it, it wrapped all the way around the house. 

Eren still felt unsteady of his feet, and Mikasa was still hovering by his shoulder by the time they stepped out onto the porch. Mikasa had tried to take the drakon spike from him, to help, probably, but Eren insisted on keeping it to himself. He’d earned it, he would hold it. 

As they came up to the railing that spanned the edge of the porch, Eren’s breath left his lungs in a rush. The house stood in the center of a clearing, not twenty meters from the coast of a massive lake. On the edge of the lake, Eren could just make out the outline of a cabin attached to a dock. More cabins dotted the clearing, one on the top of a hill near the tree line, others i other seemingly senseless positions. 

It took a second for Eren to remember the camp Mikasa had mentioned in the car, and another second to figure out that’s where they were. It was slightly breezy, and the smell of strawberries was even stronger outside. Farther out, there was an amphitheatre towards one end of the clearing, like something out of his Latin text book, except it looked brand new. Kids, Eren’s age and younger, some even older, were swinging around highly realistic looking swords. They even glinted in the sunlight! All of them were wearing similar orange t-shirts. 

Someone cleared their throat, and Eren jumped, looking around for the source of the sound before his eyes fell on a massive blond man sitting on a bench next to a kid with a coconut head. The bigger one looked like he was in his early twenties, while the smaller looked around Eren’s age. 

“This is Erwin, and Armin,” Mikasa introduced them, gently leading Eren towards the two on the bench. “Erwin is the camp director.”

“It’s good to see you awake for good,” the massive blond offered Eren a hand, which he took in greeting, before slapping a hand on the other blond’s back. “This is Armin, he’s been helping get you up again.”

“Hi,” coconut head waved, looking up from the large book on his lap. Just looking at the blocks of text without being close enough to read them made Eren’s head swim. 

“Have a seat, Eren. You, too, Mikasa,” Erwin motioned to the two chairs pressed against the side of the house, across from the bench the two blonds shared. “Welcome to Camp Sina. I’d like to extend a formal apology for your arrival.”

“An apology?”

“I’d been under the impression our defenses were better than that,” he glanced to the spike in Eren’s lap before he continued. “The drakon should not have been able to come within twenty yards of the gate. There should have been a patrol, but it looks as if someone has tampered with our records,” Erwin sighed, rubbing his temples. For a second, he looked much older than he had at a first glance. “What happened to Grisha is inexcusable. I promise you, we _will_ get it sorted out.” 

“I- thank you. I appreciate it,” Eren replied, a little taken aback by the determination of a complete stranger. 

“On top of what happened with Mr. Smith, too. Someone really dropped the ball on your case-”

“You know about Mr. Smith?” Eren’s eyes shot up to the blond,wide and curious. “I knew it! I _knew_ I wasn’t going crazy!” 

“No, you’re quite sane,” Erwin smiled indulgently, and Eren would’ve felt belittled had he not felt so relieved. “Armin, do we have any new information on that?”

“No, sir. Eren did a surprisingly thorough job at disintegrating the naga. I wasn’t able to figure out how it had gotten itself so twisted up in mortal society.” 

“Keep on it.”

“I’m sorry, disintegrated? Is that why..”

“Yes, Eren,” Armin smiled kindly at Eren, appearing to take his confusion into account. Thank _fuck_. “When you kill monsters, like the naga and drakon, they don’t stick around. They get sent straight to tartarus, where they, unfortunately, gain strength to give it another go. They hunt people like us, demigods-”

“Woah, woah, wait,” Eren held up his hands, the spike clattering to the ground and causing all of them to jump. “Sorry. Demigods?”

“You didn’t explain it to him?” Erwin shot Mikasa a glance, but she refused to back down, looking him directly in the eye.

“I was a little preoccupied trying not to get us all killed.”

“Not even a summary?”

“Will someone _please_ explain?” Eren sighed, already fed up with people talking over his head.

“You know Greek myths, right?” Armin asked, Eren nodded. “Well, they’re real. All of them. Gods, goddesses, monsters… demigods. That’s why the camps here. Demigods come here once monsters start figuring out what they are, and we train them to defend themselves.”

“This is fucking weird…”

“Eren!”

“It is! This is fucked up, Mikasa!” Eren stood up abruptly, pacing the length of the porch. “What, gods? Goddesses? Fucking _monsters_? This is too much.”

“Eren, you need to calm down.”

“No, I do fucking not. I’m tired, I’m sore, I just lost the only family I had left. Now you’re telling me Greek mythology is real? And you’re expecting me to _calm down_? This is bull-”

“This is why I didn’t tell him!” Mikasa sighed, cradling her face in her hands as Eren launched onto a tyrant. Suddenly, thunder rolled across the sky, louder than anything Eren had ever heard. He went dead silent.

“I think you should be done,” Armin said slowly, calmly. “So we don’t all get blown to Hades.” 

“So.. Greek gods…”

“And goddesses,” Mikasa cut in, Eren waved her off.

“Are real. If they’re real, how come no one-”

“Worships them anymore?” Erwin asked, Eren nodded. “It’s a little difficult to explain. It all chalks up to the rise of Christianity, but we don’t cut into the metaphysical here.”

“You were just talking about gods!”

“Yes, Greek gods. Real, physical embodiments of power. Think of it this way. Can you imagine never dying? With all the power in the world? Never fading?”

The tone of Erwin’s voice made Eren hesitate, his reply caught on his tongue. He replied slowly. “You mean… Whether people believe in you or not.”

“Exactly,” Erwin nodded. “How would you like it, being a god, and having everyone treat your existence like an old legend? A story to explain lightning, or the seasons changing? You’ll be a legend, too, one day. An old story about how a clueless teenaged boy looked death in the face and only broke a shoulder. Maybe you’ll be a story of courage, even if you existed.” 

“That… Doesn’t sound very pleasant.” 

“Now, this is exactly what’s happening to the gods. Only, they have a _lot_ more power than you, and they don’t take kindly to disbelief. So if you don’t believe, you bette soon, before one of them decides to blast you to bits.” 

“I think you’ve made your point, Erwin,” Armin smiled thinly, glancing at Eren’s panicked expression. “Come on, you need time to let it sink in. Mikasa and I will show you around camp.”


	6. Chapter 6

Once Eren had regained the ability to walk without looking shell shocked, Armin and Mikasa took it upon themselves to show him the Camp. As they walked the stone pathway linking the Big House to the rest of the camp, people would erupt into whispers, some outright pointing at the horn clutched in his hands or stopping and staring. All of the campers looked to be around Eren’s age, a few even looking years younger or older, but all wearing the same garish orange t-shirt. 

“This is the Big House,” Armin had explained, shoving his finger behind him as they walked. It was huge, four stories, with baby blue siding and slate gray shingles on the angled roof. They walked around back, and Eren could see a number of kids leaving and entering the house through the back door. 

“It doubles as our infirmary on the bottom floor. The kids in the scrubs are children of Apollo, they’re our resident healers.”

“You let kids be doctors?” Eren asked, thoroughly shocked. “That seems… dangerous.”

“They healed your shoulder,” Armin pointed out, tapping said body part. “You didn’t even know it’d been broken.”

“How’d they heal it if I’ve only been asleep for a few days?”

“Nectar and ambrosia.”

“What?”

“Oh, right, I forget you haven’t been living this for years. Ambrosia is the food of the gods, nectar is their drink. Mortals lost the ability to consume it thousands of years ago, but we demigods can still have a bit of it. It makes us heal faster if we eat enough, but too much can kill us.”

“How do you know you’ve had too much?”

“You dissolve into ashes,” Mikasa deadpanned, and Eren froze. “Relax, I’m kidding. You’ll know when you’ve had enough, you’ll start feeling really warm. 

“You suck,” Eren huffed, Armin laughed quietly. 

“The second floor is where Erwin and Mike stay. Mike is kinda like Camp Security, you haven’t met him yet. Third floor is for campers like you, who show up injured or for some reason can’t stay in a cabin right away, and the attic is… well the attic isn’t used anymore.”

“Why not?”

“It’s where the Oracle lived.”

“Not anymore?”

“No, not anymore,” Eren could tell there was a story behind that, but he dropped the subject at Armin’s tone. “This path leads to the edge of the forest, it’s stocked, so we aren’t allowed in without a weapon.”

“Stocked, with what?” Eren asked as they neared the tree line. He could see a slight shimmering between the trees, like some kind of force field, that continued up until it melded with the sky. 

“Hellhounds, naga, giant ants, the like,” Armin explained, shrugging like he didn’t just list of pure nightmare fuel. “Do you have a sword? No, of course not, you’ve been asleep. Mikasa?”

“I’ll take him by Cabin Nine after dinner.”

“Great!”

“Wait, hold on a second, I can’t use a _sword_ ,” Eren frowned, confused. He’d barely been able to pick Mikasa’s up the other day. 

“Well, not at first. You can train in the arena with the younger campers until Friday!”

“Friday? What’s happening Friday?” 

“Capture the Flag! It’s kind of a tradition here. Every month, the camp divides itself into two teams. Those teams duke it out for the flag, and the winning team gets off chore-free for a week.”

“That actually sounds really rad.”

“I figured you’d appreciate it.”

***

“And these, are the main cabins!” Armin gestured to the twelve huge cabins dotting the majority of the clearing, each more unique than the last. “There’s twenty cabins in all, and more under construction, but for now you’ll be in the Hermes cabin.” 

Armin lead the way to the biggest cabin, the only one of the lot that actually looked rather simple. It was two stories tall and painted slate grey. It gave off a slightly modern feel, complete with strangely shaped sculptures on the porch. 

“Lord Hermes is going through another modern art phase,” was all the explanation Armin gave. 

Before they could open the door, there was a high pitched whining sound that caused all campers in the near vicinity to stop and look around. 

“Everybody get down!” Mikasa yelled, grabbing Armin and Eren by the backs of their shirts before throwing them to the ground, following closely after. The rest of the campers followed suit, just as a massive explosion blew out all of the windows simultaneously. Luckily, there didn’t seem to be any glass, just a bunch of tattered screens falling uselessly to the ground in increments. 

The front door of the cabin was flung open, sending smoke billowing out. 

“Sorry, sorry!” a figure made its way through the smoke, hacking and coughing and waving its arms around to diffuse the smoke. “It’s nontoxic this time, I promise!” 

“Hanji, I thought you weren’t allowed to run experiments in the cabins anymore,” Armin coughed as Eren helped him up, brushing debris off of his pants. 

“Technically, yes,” a tall, were they a woman? Eren couldn’t tell. He’d just call them a person. A tall person stepped off the porch, taking off a pair of lab goggles and putting them on their head. There were pale rings around their eyes now, as the rest of their body was covered head to toe in soot. They looked like a reverse raccoon. “Apparently, my changes to the Greek Fire recipe were a bit off, to say the least. Fear not! I know the problem, it won’t happen again!”

“You said that the last six times!” came a ragged response from inside, followed by several shouts of agreement. 

“Yes, but I have it this time-- who’s _this_?” Eren could feel the second their eyes landed on him, wide and excitable. He felt like this Hanji person viewed him as a frog on the table, just waiting to be dissected. 

“Hanji, this is Eren, he’s new. Be _gentle_ with him, alright? Eren, this is Hanji. They’re the head counselor for Hermes cabin, and our resident mad scientist,” Armin introduced them, immediately taking a step back as if in preparation for something. Eren figured out why about two seconds later, when he was enveloped in the tightest, most bone crushing hug he’d ever been on the receiving end of.

“Hi! Welcome to Camp Sina!” Hanji greeted him, practically vibrating out of their skin. “You’re undetermined, right? You _are_! Oh, how lovely! I’ll show you where you’ll sleep! Do you have any things?”

“I-I didn’t bring anythin-”

“Erwin had someone go get you some clothes from home, I think he had them taken here already?” Armin cut him off, and Eren sent him a thankful glance. 

“Oh, yes, of course!” Hanji nodded vigorously, still having yet to let Eren go. “This way, this way~ Connie’s been needing a bunk mate for months!” 

“We’ll see you for dinner, Eren, good luck!” Armin called as Hanji rushed the teenager inside, clattering on about the improvements they were trying to make to Greek Fire. 

“Wait, I thought the recipe for Greek Fire was lost?” Eren inquired as he was herded along, one end of Hanji’s rant going in one ear and out the other. He did manage to catch a few scraps here and there, though. 

“It was! To mortals!” Hanji quipped, the question seeming to make them even more excited. “But we found it! A few months ago during a quest that ran through some ruins, a couple campers ran into some ancient documents of some kind. They were so old they were on stone tablets, can you believe that? Anyway, they brought them to me, and I, being the resident camp expert in ancient Greek language, was able to translate them! Turns out it was the recipe for Greek Fire! And bam! Now it’s found.”

“Oh… I see.”

“Connie! There you are!” Hanji suddenly yelled once they’d reached a set of bunks, causing Eren to jump. The new subject of their attention was a shorter boy with a shaved bald head stretched across the bottom bunk on the far wall with a girl sitting next to him, their legs intertwined. They both held xbox controllers, and were staring intently at the screen lodged into the wall by the door. 

“Haven’t moved since you tried to blow the roof off the cabin,” Connie replied, not taking his eyes off the screen. “What’s up?”

“I have your new bunk mate!” That seemed to get his attention. He paused the game, making the girl groan in annoyance, before swiveling to look at Eren and Hanji. 

“Hey, man, Welcome to Camp,” he stood up and offered a fist, which Eren bumped, before shoving his thumb at the bunk. “You got the top bunk, your shit’s already there. I’m Connie, that’s Sasha, my girlfriend. you play Halo?” 

***

Eren liked Connie and Sasha, he decided, they were easy people to get along with. Connie was friendly and easygoing, not too concerned with the thoughts of others, while Sasha was probably one of the most entertaining people Eren had ever met. 

They spent the next several hours playing Halo and talking about camp, giving Eren the rundown on everything they thought he needed to know. Fortunately, they didn’t spew out things about mythology, only things about campers and camp in general they thought important. 

“We used to have to sit at meals by cabin, but they abolished that rule once it became a requirement for gods to claim their kids,” Connie explained. “You came here with Mikasa, right? She’s good people. If she likes you, you must be too, so you’re welcome to sit with us at dinner.”

“Thanks, man,” Eren nodded, not taking his eyes of the screen. Sasha came out of nowhere with a headshot, causing him to groan and drop his controller on the bed. 

“You’ll meet the others later then, I suppose. Our group’s kinda big. You already met us, Armin, and Mikasa, but on top of them there’s Historia, but call her Krista, Ymir, Reiner, Bert, Annie, Jean, and Marco.” 

“Big group.”

“No kidding, but we all grew up together, so it’s cool. We’re like a family.”

“I wouldn’t be intruding on that?”

“Don’t sweat it, man, everyone’s cool. ‘cept for Jean, he’s an asshole, but he’s fine after a while. Don’t hit on Krista, Ymir might kill you. Oh, wait, you’re not homophobic are you?”

“What? No. Why?”

“No reason, just wondering. Anyway, besides us, there’s the people in charge of the camp. you know Erwin and Hanji, of course, but there’s also Petra, Nanaba, Levi, and Nile.”

“You’ll like Petra, everybody likes Petra,” Sasha said through a mouthful of doritos, head shotting Connie this time. She was a daughter of Dionysus, but she spent most of her time with Hermes, apparently. “She’s head of Demeter cabin.”

“Yeah, if you need help with anything non-combat related, she’s your best bet, besides Hanji. Hanji’s crazy, but they mean well,” Connie continued for her, nodding along. “Nanaba is in charge of Aphrodite cabin, Levi is the only Hades camper we got, and Nile is the asshole head of Ares cabin. A word of warning, stay on Levi’s good side.”

“Why’s that?”

“He’s a kid of the Big Three, for one. Two, he could kick your ass from here to Chicago without breaking a sweat, and three, he’s tight with Erwin.”

“Noted,” Eren felt like he should be taking notes almost. This was a lot to take in, even without the mythology mumbo-jumbo. “Anything else I should know?”

“Nah, we’ll have the other’s explain at dinner. Don’t worry, you’ll catch on quickly enough. Everyone does.”

***

Eren would never get used to this.

When Connie sat him down at their usual table, the others were already there. Eren sat between Armin and Mikasa, smiling thankfully at both of them for saving him a seat. Connie went through and had everyone introduce themselves before the food came. 

“Hi, I’m Krista, I’m in Zeus cabin, welcome to Camp! This is my girlfriend, Ymir, from Ares,” a pretty blond girl at the end of the table greeted him, waving cutely. The bigger girl next to her, all imposing and covered in freckles, nodded to him once. 

“I’m Reiner, I’m Ares, that’s Bertholdt, just call him Bert so you don’t hurt yourself, He’s Hephaestus, and this is Annie, from Nemesis,” next was the burly blond next to Ymir, the towering, and slightly sweaty, brunette next to him, and the other small blonde girl at the table. Her eyes were sharp and calculating, but she nodded her greeting to Eren all the same. 

“Guess that leaves us!” The freckled brunette across from Eren chirped. “I’m Marco, I’m with Demeter cabin, and this is my boyfriend, Jean, he’s with Poseidon.”

“It’s nice to meet you all,” Eren smiled cautiously, waving slightly. “I’m Eren, I guess I’m undetermined.”

“How are you liking camp so far, Eren?” 

“It’s pretty cool, I guess. I’m having a hard time soaking everything in…”

“It happens, you’ll get there,” Marco smiled gently, Eren immediately liked him. Everyone seemed really nice, so far. Well, almost everyone. 

“Did you really kill the drakon? Without training?” Krista asked, after a few minutes of idle chatter. Eren blushed and nodded, getting several impressed looks from the others.The boy with the undercut next to Marco, Jean, Eren remembered, huffed loudly, signalling his annoyance.

“What, Jean?” Mikasa asked sharply, getting everyone at the table’s attention. 

“Said he doesn’t look like much, ‘s all,” he grumbled, dropping his elbows on the table. “Don’t see why you’re all coddling him so much.”

“Jean!” Marco hissed, Eren squinted slightly. 

“Is there a fucking problem?” Eren asked quietly, not wanting to make a scene in front of a bunch of people he barely knew. His patience was wearing thin, though. He’d had a long day full of confusing, world rattling changes, he was itching to blow off some steam. 

“No, there’s no problem,” Armin tried to intervene, but Jean cut him off. 

“Yeah. I’m sick of hearing about you. Eren this, Eren that, it’s all anybody’s been talking about all damn day, and why? you don’t look like anything special.” 

“How is that my fault?” Eren snapped, clenching his fists under the table. 

“You just had to kill the drakon, didn’t you?” 

“What does that have to do with anything!” 

“Everyone thinks you’re so special ‘cause you got in a lucky shot. I bet that’s all it was, luck. Bet you couldn’t last a minute in the arena.”

“You wanna try, asshole?” Eren growled, both boys already standing up, half in each other’s faces. 

“Let’s go. Arena, now.”

“You’re on.”

Mikasa held Eren’s arms back, keeping him from going after Jean, who was being restrained by Marco. All eyes in the dining pavilion were on them when the head counselors finally arrived. 

“ _What_ is going on here?” Erwin barked, causing everyone to jump and snap their attention to him. “Yeager, Kirschtein, what the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“Sir, I-”

“If you have any problems, it can and will wait until Capture the Flag, or training. Is that understood? I would have thought you’d know better, Jean. I’ll excuse Eren because he’s new, but you should be ashamed of yourself.”

“Yes, sir, sorry sir,” Jean looked down as Marco released him. Mikasa followed suit soon after, and Eren slumped into his seat.

“For future reference, Yeager, all disputes are to be handled in the training arena, or during tournaments, where a qualified teacher may supervise,” Erwin explained, Eren nodded, shrinking under his gaze. “Alright. With that settled, it’s time for dinner.”


	7. Chapter 7

After dinner, Eren found himself in the Camp Sina forges with Mikasa. She had insisted he get fitted for his sword immediately, so it would be ready in time for Capture the Flag. 

“Having the wrong sword could get you killed,” she’d told him, leading him along to the metal shop. “If anyone can get it done quickly, it’s Bert.” 

Bertholdt had excused himself early from dinner, followed by Reiner (Armin whispered that the two were dating, Eren thought they looked good together), to go to the forges. Now, Eren knew why. Mikasa must have asked him while Eren was getting settled in with Hermes cabin. 

The forges were huge and attached directly to the side of cabin nine in an open-air building. The stoves were massive, and even the ones that weren’t actively being used blazed with heat. Just crossing the threshold, Eren could feel a dramatic increase in the temperature. No wonder Bert was sweating so much at dinner! 

“Hey, you made it!” Reiner sat up from where he was leaned against a metal slab talking to Bert as he shoveled something into a stove, greeting them with a wide grin. He clapped Eren on the shoulder, almost sending him sprawling if not for Mikasa’s hand on the back of his shirt. “Bert’s just got the forge ready. I’m gonna handle the measurements, that cool with you?”

“I uh, I suppose so,” Eren nodded, not quite sure what Reiner was talking about. “What do I need to do?”

“Great, just stand there while I get the measurements we need. It’ll only take a couple of minutes, then we’ll test a few samples.” 

Reiner had Eren stand on top of a cinder block as he took measurements. His arm length, the length from his wrist to his elbow, his elbow to his shoulder, his shoulder width, all while asking seemingly endless questions that hardly made sense. He’d occasionally throw out random numbers to Bert, who would nod and look over a couple lumps of metal that all looked the same. 

“Left handed or right?”

“Ambidextrous, but I favor the right, I think.”

“How much can you lift?”

“I guess I’m about average? I don’t really know.”

“You can do push ups right?”

“Of course.”

“How many? Before you get tired.”

“Seventy? That’s what I did my last fitness test..”

Reiner nodded after that, putting down the tape measure and motioning for Eren to follow him. He lead them to a table in the far corner of the forge that was completely laden down with weapons. Swords, shields, spears of all sizes. Some didn’t even look like weapons. Reiner looked over the table before picking a few things out, the first being a sword. It was bronze, and maybe three feet in length and ramrod straight, with two very sharp looking edges. 

“This is your standard sword, one handed, dual edged. Give it a swing at that hay bale,” he nodded to a stack of hay settled a distance away from the forges, handing the blade to Eren. 

The moment his fist closed around the handle, it just felt wrong. It felt too heavy and too light at the same time, and when Eren swung it, it felt like he was using inverse controls. 

“That was awful,” Mikasa muttered, deadpan as ever. Reiner nodded his agreement. 

“So, that’s ano on the xiphos, then. Try this next,” this one looked like a glorified steak knife, curved slightly forward at the end with only one edge. This one felt slightly better, but when he swung it, Mikasa shook her head. 

“Look at his arm. The swings good, but anyone could slice his fingers off in a heartbeat.” 

“Yeah… Let’s see. This! I’m pretty sure of this one, give it a whack.” 

It was similar to the one he’d just tried, curved more at the front and more flat one the sides of the blade instead of flared out. The handle, though, curled around his fingers like a guard, keeping them safe from enemy down swings. Eren swung at the hay bale, and swiped the top of it clean off. 

“I think that’ll do it. Kopis it is, then!” Reiner sounded off, and Mikasa nodded in agreement. “Usually, there’s a chain right here between these two points. Yours’ll have it when it’s done.”

“Thanks,” Eren grinned once they were back in the forge. Bert was already melting down metal, giving it criticising glares every few seconds. 

“Don’t thank us yet, you still needa learn how to use it!” Reiner laughed, and this time Eren was ready for the clap to his shoulder, bracing himself for impact. “With a swing like that, though, I think you’ll be fine.” 

“I’ve been meaning to ask,” Mikasa spoke to Bert, looking over his hands into the forge. “How’s your mother doing?” Her voice was gentle, giving him room to refuse to answer. The massive teen looked pensive for a moment, before opening his mouth to reply. 

“She’s… better, than she was. She’s not in pain anymore, but the doctors say that won’t change much,” was his sorrowed reply. Reiner moved away from Eren and stood next to Bert, rubbing one massive hand between the brunette’s shoulder blades. Eren felt a wave of sadness for his new friend, even without knowing what had happened, it struck something close to home. 

“Bertholdt’s mother was caught in a monster attack,” Reiner explained for Eren. “About.. six months ago?” 

“Oh…” Eren’s eyes widened, immediately remembering what happened to Grisha. 

“She’s been pretty bad, since.” 

Eren wanted to apologize, but he figured it might not be well received. When his mom died, he’d quickly gotten sick of hearing people say they were sorry. Sorry for his loss, sorry for her death, like it was supposed to make him feel better. It only made him feel the loss more. He did decide, though, that he could at least offer his support, even if Bert didn’t need it. 

“If… if you ever need someone to talk to, Bert… I know what it’s like, to lose someone you care about. My mom died when I was younger, she was murdered. I’m not saying it’d make you feel any better, but if… yeah.” 

“Thanks, Eren,” Bert offered him a weary smile, Reiner dabbed his brow with his shirt. “I appreciate it.” Eren nodded in response. 

He and Mikasa left shortly after, leaving the couple to themselves in the forge. She pointed to the forest, once they drew near. 

“There’s a lot of nasty things in there, Eren, and the world beyond. You need a weapon for the game, but you need it even more to make sure you can survive on your own. Nothing can get onto camp grounds without being summoned, but still… going out there without a weapon is suicide.” 

“Why would someone summon monsters into the camp?” 

“Practical training, practical jokes.”

“What the hell kind of sense of humor do you people _have_?” 

“We’re safer here, anyway, and so are our families. Well, those of us who still have families. A lot of the time, we get here too late.”

“What do you mean?”

“Monsters track us by smell. They can smell the power in our blood on us, and on those around us. Bert, his mom had just dropped him off here when she was attacked. My parents were killed when I was very young because I’d gotten mad, and anger makes children of Ares powers stronger. The only people I know who still have family around are Marco, Sasha, Connie, Armin, and Jean, and that’s only because of how young they got here.” 

“Thats awful!” 

“It’s especially bad for children of the Big Three, like Jean, Krista, and Levi. They show at an early age, that’s why there are so few. Most die before they even know who they are…” Mikasa shook her head, as if trying to dispel the dark aura that had fallen over them. “Come on, there’s a class in the arena now. You should get a look at what’ll you be doing tomorrow.”

***

“Oh, good, this is Erwin’s class,” Mikasa said once they approached the arena. “That’s Levi, beside him, the child of Hades.” 

Eren looked where she was indicating, eyes landing on a shadowy man next to Erwin. He was short, shorter than Eren, at least, with dark hair and sharp eyes. His gaze snapped to them as soon as they took their seats, moving first to Mikasa before lingering on Eren. Sizing him up, Eren figured. 

“--As Levi and I will demonstrate,” Erwin finished, they sprung apart and dove back together, swords clashing loudly and brightly in the evening sun. They were both obviously skilled fighters, Levi with quick jabs and feints, and Erwin with his strength and wits. 

“If you ever have the misfortune of fighting with him,” Mikasa told him lowly, not taking her eyes of the pair. “Keep your sword in your hand, otherwise you’ve lost,” ash she finished, Levi swiped the sword from Erwin’s hand, pointing his own at the blond’s throat and the other at his heart. 

“Oh.” 

***

“How’s your first day of camp gone so far?” Connie asked as they left cabin eleven, following the small crowd of kids that had filed out in a rush. 

“It’s a lot to take in,” Eren admitted, laughing self deprecatingly. “I don’t know if I’ll ever make sense of it all.”

“Nah, you’ll get it. It’s not so hard if you just accept it!” 

“Yeah, I suppose so,” Eren nodded, then remembered a question he had earlier. “Why are there so many kids in Hermes?”

“Oh, that’s because we get all of the undetermined kids.”

“Why’s that?” 

“Hermes isn’t really picky about that sort of thing,” Connie explained, shrugging. “All of his kids are different, and most of us don’t have any specific talents. He’s a jack of all trades, ya’ know? Usually, though, you get claimed in the first month of camp, two if they’re extra busy upstairs, so not all of us stay.” 

“How long have you been here?”

“Two years, but I was claimed officially by Hermes my first week after I blew up the communal bathrooms,” Connie gave him a sharp smirk, eyes twinkling mischievously. “Kids of Hermes are known for their prank wars.” 

That terrified Eren, a little bit, and he made a mental note not to start one with his bald friend. They made it to the bonfire shortly after, just as the Apollo cabin started a sing along. Mikasa and Marco made sure to keep Eren and Jean as far away from each other as they could, given the bonfire took place in the training arena, so they couldn’t actually stop a fight if it started. 

It wasn’t so bad. They sung the same cheesy campfire songs all camps did. They roasted marshmallows and told scary stories. Eren did, however, feel someone’s eyes on him the whole time. When he finally got fed up and spun around to look, he met eyes with Levi, and immediately regretted it. The son of Hades was staring at him unwaveringly without expression, just… watching. It unnerved Eren, so he ignored it in hopes he’d give up, and threw himself into the song Connie was trying to start. 

Afterwards, as they prepared for bed, Connie showed Eren how to check his bunk for pranks and traps. Hanji called lights out the moment Eren’s head hit the pillow, and everything went black with a soft click. He wasn’t sure if he’d be able to sleep, but he must have underestimated the amount his world had been shaken, and passed out not seconds later.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't say I'm overly happy with how this chapter turned out, but hey, it's better than nothing! I meant to update yesterday, but everyone decided to rush the library since it was board night, and I didn't get a single word written! If I decide I still think it's too awkward later, I'll rewrite it, but for now, enjoy!

Over the days between his arrival and Friday, Eren developed a kind of routine. He’d have Greek lessons with Armin’s in the morning after breakfast; Hanji had originally tried to teach him, but they quickly learned that Hanji was just too intense for Eren. Armin would teach him how to read common Greek phrases, and about the different myths and how they translated into their world. 

After lunch, Eren would meet Mikasa in the training arena where she would attempt to teach him basic swordsmanship. Originally, Mikasa wanted him to learn how to use basic weapons, but they learned pretty quickly that wouldn’t work. Eren was too aggressive for a shield, and he was easily outwitted in hand-to-hand combat, so that would have to wait until he’d learned more of strategy. He worked well with a dagger, but lacked finesse as he went for the brute approach. 

Aside from swordsmanship, the only real activity Eren excelled in was canoeing. That fact alone seemed to irk Jean to no end, especially when Eren, despite having little to no training, was able to tie with him in most races. Even when Jean had used his powers to knock Eren overboard, he had no issues swimming alongside of his canoe and making faces at him when he looked down. 

During his daily activities, Eren could feel campers and counselors eyes on him, trying to determine what godly parent he had. Obviously, all goddesses had been crossed out, as well as Apollo (Eren sucked at archery, and could hardly stand the sight of blood), Hephaestus, and Zeus. Hanji had new ideas everyday, and even had a spread sheet on the possibilities. Eren frankly didn’t care who he got, as long as it wasn’t Poseidon. If Jean was his brother, he decided he might just go mad. 

***

By Friday, Mikasa was having Eren help her in her lessons with the younger campers. He had gotten the hang of basic swordplay, despite still using a borrowed sword, and was able to help her walk some younger kids the basics. 

Bert had said the new sword would be ready before dinner, just in time for the game. The entire camp was buzzing with excitement, causing Mikasa to have to continuously fight for her class’s attention. 

Eren was exhausted by their first break, having had Mikasa kick his ass from one end of the arena to the other. She pushed him lightly from where they sat on a bench, shaking her head at his disgruntled moan. 

“Get up, you big baby,” she laughed, dumping the rest of her water bottle on his head. It was cool and refreshing, giving Eren a sudden burst of energy that made him feel like he could run a marathon. “Alright, this is the last thing I’m going to show you guys today. It’s a basic disarming maneuver, pretty simple. Just hook your sword here,” she placed the tip of her sword against Eren’s grip. “And flick,” the sword clattered out of his hand and to the ground. “This is how it’ll look in real time.” 

Eren always had a hard time keeping up with Mikasa, but from how Armin talked, everyone did. She was quick and ruthlessly efficient, keeping Eren on his toes and fighting to prevent an opening. She claimed the only way he would learn quickly would be keep pushing him into controlled situations. He would learn, or he would get hurt. There was always an Apollo kid on standby. 

He noticed rather quickly that Mikasa was leaving her own hand unguarded while she was going after his, and figured there was no harm in trying, so he jabbed in his sword, right under her elbow and against the grip of her kopis. He flicked up, sending her sword clattering to the stone floor. She paused, looking to her hand, to his, to the sword on the ground. The class was silent for the first time all day, and Eren thought he was going to get smacked. 

“Again,” Mikasa commanded him, picking up her sword and coming at him with twice the vigor she had before, but the burst of confidence Eren had before was gone. His movements were sluggish and uncoordinated, so she was able to disarm him three more times before she gave up and sent the class on their own ways to practice. 

Eren shrugged when she sent him a questioning look, instead choosing to plop down on the nearest bench to catch his breath. 

“Beginners luck, I suppose.” 

***

If Eren thought Mikasa’s class was rowdy, they were nothing compared to dinner. 

Every kid in camp seemed to be on a sugar high, pushing friends and just causing general havoc until Erwin called for silence. 

“As you all know, tonight is Capture the Flag,” he started, standing in front of the table the head counselors sat at together. “Presently, Hermes holds the Laurels. Hanji, who have you claimed as a team?”

“Hermes claims ties with Poseidon, Athena, Apollo, and Zeus cabins,” Hanji grinned, sending a cheshire grin to Levi, who sat on their left. Levi frowned at her before turning away, looking straight at Eren, who went beet red and quickly stared at his empty plate. He’d noticed it frequently, the past couple days at bonfires. Levi would stare at him, no expression, no words, just a blank look. When he’d asked Armin about it, the blond had looked thoughtful for a moment before saying something about him trying to figure out what parent Eren would have. Without any other ideas, Eren accepted that explanation. 

“And Ares, who do you claim?”

“Ares claims Nemisis, Demeter, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, and Hades cabin,” the man on Erwin’s right, dark haired and scraggly looking, replied, looking rather bored. 

“Very well,” Erwin clapped his hands together, and two campers bearing massive banners marched into the pavilion. “You will have thirty minutes to hide your flags. Remember the rules, no more than three campers on guard. While you may take prisoners, they may not be bound or gagged, and your flags _must_ be in plain sight. I wish you all the best of luck.”

Eren’s entire table stood up, all of them parting into their own teams as Armin held Eren’s arm, pulling him to the side. 

“I want you on border patrol,” Armin explained, silencing his confused outcry. “Just walk the length of the creek, and don’t let anyone by. Got that?”

“I think I can manage, Arm,” Eren nodded, placing a hand on the hilt of his new sword. It was warm and gleaming bronze, it’s curved blade etched in strange designs. Eren loved it, and had thanked Bert a million times before clipping it to his belt. Connie had made him show them all at dinner, and everyone praised Bert for his skill. 

“Good, let’s go, then!” 

***

Armin, Eren decided, was a little shit. 

Not only had he placed Eren in the least populated place possible, he’d put him there alone. He could hear the clashing of metal and the excited cries of his camp mates, but not a soul was in sight. He felt slightly left out, despite the lingering feeling of eyes on him. The forest didn’t help, either, it was creepy, even in the daylight. 

He was alone in the woods while battle raged on around him, or so he thought. 

“You okay there, kid?” Eren spun around to find the owner of the voice, startling when he found it to be Levi, alone, and leaning against a tree half covered in shadows on the other side of the creek. Eren’s fist tightened around his sword, and the other laughed. “Easy there, I’m not looking for a fight.” 

“You’re on the other team,” Eren squinted slightly, trying to determine whether Levi really was alone or not. 

“What difference does it make?” Levi asked, cocking his head to the side. His grey eyes glinted in the half light, making him seem even more dangerous than he had before, if possible. “What’s your name?”

“...Eren.”

“Well, Eren, it doesn’t look like your friend was very smart.”

“Why’s that?” Eren asked, genuinely confused. Armin was plenty smart, he was in Athena after all! Shouldn’t he have to be?

“Because, this is the only meeting point between our teams, and you’re walking it alone,” Levi lifted himself off the tree, rolling his shoulders and walking towards the edge of the water. His sword, black as night and long as Eren’s arm, was sheathed at his hip, so Eren didn’t take his out… yet. “Save yourself the trouble and a couple of bruises and let me by. It’ll be easier for all of us.”

“No,” Eren’s confusion turned into a sharp glare, making Levi’s eyebrows raise. “If you want by, you’ll have to fight me.”

“Very well,” Levi sighed, seemingly terribly bored. Before Eren could blink, Levi had shoved him to the ground and was drawing his sword, barely giving Eren enough time to draw his own and send Levi sprawling off him with a well placed foot to the chest. He let out a quiet ‘oof’ before quickly regaining himself, already swinging his sword at Eren. 

He was fast.

He was very, very fast. Faster than Mikasa, and not nearly as worried about hurting him. It was all Eren could do to block him, Levi keeping him on the defensive the entire time. 

“Fuck, I found him! He’s with Eren!” There was a voice in the distance as Eren narrowly evaded getting his head lopped off, twisting his arm the wrong way in the process. Levi grabbed his arm, spun him, and sent him sputtering into the creek, all of his joints sore and parts of his arms bleeding from the knicks Levi had landed. 

Eren struggled to get up, but Levi placed a heavy boot on his back, not quite putting his weight on him. 

“Stay down, kid, don’t make it worse.” Eren flopped back down into the water, submerging his head for a panicked moment or two. Once he pulled himself back up, it was to see Levi’s back, he’d hardly broke a sweat! The initial shock of the cold water and brutal beat down had worn off, and Eren noticed he actually felt quite a bit better, enough to stand and pick up his sword from the bank. Levi froze when he heard Eren move. “Are you fucking stupi-” 

Eren, his sense of self preservation momentarily gone, barreled into Levi with more energy than he thought he could have. His limbs felt warm and light as he swung his sword around, blocking Levi’s ark, and shouldered him out of the way, backing him up towards the other team’s side of the creek. 

Levi actually looked rather confused, but he was easily able to keep up with Eren, landing one hit that sliced open Eren’s shirt and part of the skin above his ribs. Seeing movement to the left, they both glanced over as they were stuck in a stand-still, blades crossed and fighting to push the other, to see Jean grinning as he dashed over the boundary line, Ares’s flag in his grasp. 

“Dammit!” Levi hissed, shoving Eren back down into the water. “I should’ve known…” 

“Eren! Are you alright?” Armin was at his side in an instance, helping him up despite his soaked clothing. “What is that?”

“It’s just a cut, I thought you guys were used to that sort of thing by now?” Eren asked, putting his hand over the hole in his shirt. 

“No, it _was_ a cut, look,” Armin forced his hand away, revealing the bloody hole in the cloth, but not the skin. “Eren, step out of the water…” 

Eren did so, and immediately felt fatigued, slumping over onto Armin’s shoulders. 

“I wonder…”

“Well done, Jean, well done,” Erwin over to the son of Poseidon, placing a hand on his shoulder as the teen waved the flag in victory, leading the rest of their team’s cheers. “Poseidon wins the flag for thei-” the ground shook, and everyone fell silent. 

“Erwin, what-”

“Shh…” Erwin kneeled down, placing his hand in the dirt, expression pinched. “Everybody scatter!” 

The ground split open without warning, and everybody took off running as a massive form yanked himself out of the hole. Eren could see a gaping maw, no… _Two_ gaping maws, as the the form took off out of its hole. 

It looked around, large heads swinging in opposite directions, before one set eyes on Eren where he had frozen in shock. 

“Eren, we need to go!” Armin pulled on his arm, causing Eren to stumble as the beast's first head growled at the other, and both looked at him. In one bound, it had made it to Eren, knocking Armin away with ease and clamping Erens arm in its teeth. It started pulling, and he felt like his shoulder was going to rip off if it didn't stop. 

He could hear Armin screaming, and the beasts second head snarled louder. Eren tried to squirm, but the pain only got worse, until it stopped suddenly. The hound had let go. 

“Get that thing out of here!” Erwin barked, and through his squinted eyes Eren watched as Levi, with speed at least twice that he used on Eren, treated the monster as his own personal pin cushion. 

“Hey, Eren, look at me,” Armin patted Eren's face, and he struggled to look up at his friend. “Can you help me? Just push off a bit, there you go…” Eren hissed at the sudden cold of the creek against his shoulder, his eyes clenched and teeth grinding. It hurt, and burned like hell, until it felt good. The water soothed the burn, gentle laps at the stinging wounds from the dogs jagged teeth. The water turned opaque and red before it slowly ran clear, leaving only smooth skin behind. “Wow… Wait, Eren!” 

Eren sat up, seeing nothing but red. Not only had this… Thing… Interrupted their win, he _bit_ him! 

The water around him burbled and sloshed about, its gentle current increasing in speed and depth until it was rushing over his lap. He stood up on shaky legs, and the water followed; it pulsed and moved like a living being, encasing Eren in its gentle chill before he thrust his arms out, and all at once it shot in jets at the hound. The force knocked it several feet back into the crack in the ground, and Levi dropped his sword, clapping his hands together forcibly. The crack slammed closed with teeth rattling force as Eren dropped to the ground, breathing hard. 

Quiet murmured filled the area as campers returned from their hiding spots, looking to Erwin for an explanation of some kind. Armin pulled Eren’s head into his lap, putting a hand over his forehead as if to steady his shaking. 

“Erwin, what _was_ that?” Levi barked, anger prevalent in his voice. “That definitely wasn’t stocked! That thing could’ve, would’ve killed someone!” 

“Orthrus,” Erwin replied, looking lost in thought for a few moments. “No, he was not stocked. Someone summoned him.” 

“Bet it was him…” Jean’s voice muttered from Eren’s left, followed by a cut off groan as someone thumped him with the butt of a sword. “What? I’m just sayin- Ow! Marco!” 

“Eren, are you alright? Can we have a medic, please?” Mikasa fell down next to him, looking over the new bloody additions to his shirt. “There’s a lot of blood! Quickly, he’s fucking hurt!” 

Shoes splashing in the stream, but they were stopped by Armin. 

“No, wait, I want to see something,” he insisted, “Mikasa, help me get him to the water. I have a theory.” 

“This is no time for theories, Armin!” she hissed in response, but she must not have meant it because not a minute later Eren was being slowly dragged towards the bank again. 

“Armin, what are you thinking?” Erwin asked, and Eren could hear his heavy footsteps approaching them. 

“You saw the water, Erwin, how many people can do that?” Armin retorted. “You aren’t stupid, think.” 

Eren’s back flopped into the water, causing him to gasp at the sudden cold. As soon as the water hit him, his exhaustion seemed to rush away with its gentle current. He groaned loudly, sitting up with Armin and Mikasa’s help and having to lean against Armin’s side. More quiet murmuring, but Erwin shushed it quickly, ordering an Apollo camper to take a look at him. 

“There’s… There’s nothing there,” they said, having pushed Eren’s shirt up over his head. He was too tired to do anything but sit there, even while the water did its best to help him. “Just a bunch of blood, I can’t find an injury.” As soon as the words were out of their mouth, something appeared over Eren’s head. Before the fuzziness in his head and the black around his vision pulled him to sleep, Eren could see its gentle, spinning glow not a foot above him. One single, blue bathed trident. It was gone just as soon as it appeared, its light fading into the shadows of the forest, but it was enough. Everyone knew what it meant, if not by the symbol, but by Jean’s indigent sputtering. 

“All welcome Eren, son of Poseidon, Earth shaker, god of the sea,” came Erwin’s low voice, there was the rustling of cloth and the clinks of armor as everyone, even Jean, took a knee.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, thanks for reading! This fic will be based loosely on the Percy Jackson books. It won't line up completely, but it will contain some original elements.  
> If you guys have any ideas for what happens next, feel free to share!
> 
> Edit: Someone asked, so now I'm going to track the tag "Waterlogged Fic" on tumblr. You guys can find me there as Prettyboydotexe  
> Or my writing blog! prettyboydocx.tumblr.com


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